BASKETBALL; A Prep Standout Decides That Home Is Where His Heart Is

When Nigel Wyatte finally made his decision to sign a letter of intent to attend Wagner College, he knew his mother would have been happy.

''At first I just wanted to get out of Staten Island and play ball somewhere else,'' the 6-foot-6-inch Curtis High School senior said yesterday, after his announcement. ''But then I thought about playing almost every game in front of my brothers. My mom really would have loved that.''

Coach Tim Gannon agreed that his star basketball player, who averaged 20.4 points a game and won the award given annually to Staten Island's best high school basketball player, ultimately placed a premium on staying close to home.

''I think he chose Wagner because he really grew to appreciate having his family around this year,'' Gannon said. ''He liked a lot of schools, but the proximity of Wagner sort of pushed them over the top.''

Wyatte's closeness to his roots is understandable. He is one of five children who have the same father but four different mothers. He lost his sister Keisha to leukemia when he was 11. Two years later, his mother, Juanita Ruth Weston, died of complications from AIDS after fighting the disease. It was a loss from which Wyatte says he never will fully recover.

''She was the best mom, we were so close,'' Wyatte said during a recent interview. ''People say that they can talk to their mom about anything, but we really literally could talk about anything. She would always tell me to never give up and never forget where I came from. I learned a lot from her.''

Nathan Wyatte Jr., Wyatte's oldest brother, who is known as Nate, said, ''Nigel took it real hard when she died. We all took it hard, but Nigel now tries to use it as inspiration. He tries to keep Mom's dreams alive.''

Some skeptics wondered whether Wyatte would achieve his mother's dreams. While Gannon calls him the hardest-working player on his team, some local scouts characterized him as lazy. His quick schoolyard smile is as familiar to Curtis students as his signature scowl on the court.

''Schools who recruited him always seemed surprised, saying what a good kid he is and that he wasn't being recruited by bigger schools,'' Gannon said. ''People see the cornrows and the scowl that he wears on the court and assume that he is one type of kid. But he is the first one to talk about his little sister in such loving ways.''

Bill Sheridan, a member of the committee responsible for picking the recipient of the Jaques award as Staten Island's best high school basketball player, said that Wyatte added a dimension no one else had. ''He's a legitimate shot-blocker, and people have to change their offense because he's out there,'' Sheridan said.

The Wyattes had to change their ways after their mother's death. Nigel's two older brothers, Nate and Johnell, split many of the maternal duties in raising him, while their father worked two jobs.

''We always had responsibilities for Nigel, even when Mom was alive, but when she passed, everybody just had to do a little bit more,'' Nate said. ''But that's what families do.''

Johnell and Nate were fixtures in the stands at Curtis games last season, along with the latest addition to the family, their 2-year-old sister, Liana.